Iran nuclear deal an 'important first step'

US Secretary of State John Kerry explains historic deal to create a temporary
freeze on Iran's nuclear programme

11:00AM GMT 25 Nov 2013

Iran's agreement with the United States and five other world powers calls for Tehran to curb its nuclear activities for six months in exchange for limited and gradual sanctions relief.

During the six-month period, diplomats will try to negotiate a broader agreement.

The package includes freezing Iran's ability to enrich uranium at a maximum five percent level, which is well below the threshold for weapons-grade material and is aimed at easing Western concerns that Tehran could one day seek nuclear arms. International monitors will oversee Iran's compliance.

Mr Kerry insisted that the agreement, reached by diplomats in Geneva, was an important first step towards a comprehensive agreement.

"This negotiation is not the art of fantasy or the art of the ideal. It's the art of the possible, which is verifiable and clear in its capacity to be able to make Israel and the region safer," he told ABC's 'This Week' programme.

Mr Kerry, who attended the final negotiations along with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, said the pact will make US allies in the Middle East, including Israel, safer, reducing the threat of war.

Some Republicans in Congress however, remain sceptical. Senator Saxby Chambliss from Georgia suggested the deal actually "makes a nuclear Iran more likely" as it does not require Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment.

Meanwhile President Barack Obama hailed the deal as putting "substantial limitations" on a nuclear programme that the United States and its allies fear could be turned to nuclear weapons use.

Iran has always maintained that its programme is for peaceful purposes.